Say You Won't Let Go
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: When Ezra is sent to pick up intelligence from a new source on a backwater planet in wild space, he expects it to be an easy in and out mission. What he doesn't expect is to find the source in need of his help-or for the stranger to be one of the first people to make him start thinking about life beyond the rebellion. (Crossover SWR/Big Hero 6: Ezra Brider/Hiro Hamada)
1. Chapter 1

Ezra had been in the Rebellion long enough that going on missions to pick up intelligence from a new source was old hat to him. The fact that the meeting place for rendezvousing with this particular source was in a cantina on some backwater world didn't even raise his interest anymore. With all the ne'er do wells who mixed and mingled in those places, the low lighting and raucous noise made for an excellent cover for two people who were trying to avoid attention. And dressed in some old old robes that Kanan had procured from only Force knew where, Ezra looked no different than any of the others straggling in through the open doors of the bar.

The only thing that could have made the young jedi feel completely comfortable with this mission would have been actually knowing what his informant looked like. Still, it wasn't a complete surprise that his source had preferred to not pass along a physical description of himself-often their sources preferred to remain as anonymous as possible for safety reasons, and Ezra could respect that. He of all people knew how dangerous it could be when the Empire knew what you looked like and plastered your face on wanted posters all across the known galaxy. So if this informant wanted to prevent that from happening, he understood completely

It did make getting the intel and getting out quickly a bit tricky, but the source promised that he would be able to find Ezra, even in disguise, and he had given the Rebellion dispatchers a code phrase that would identify him: "Are you looking for me, sailor?" It was an odd choice of words, but it was all that Ezra had to go on and he would just have to rely on his wits and the Force to help him through this.

Once inside the cantina, Ezra takes a seat at a table near the edge of the room. Even though he was in disguise, he didn't want to take any chances of being spotted, especially considering there were quite a few uniformed Imperials at the bar. It curdled his stomach that the Empire had sunk it's claws even into this mostly abandoned world and was probably exploiting the poor local populace. Still, this wasn't a mission to bring freedom to this place, so he forces himself to just focus on the task at hand.

It was a bit uncomfortable just sitting alone at this table, waiting for some unknown stranger to come up to him, and he finds himself scanning the crowds for any sign of the informant in spite of the fact that he had no idea what they looked like. Usually he would have brought one of his crew as backup, but this particular source had been insistent that he came alone to avoid drawing unwanted attention. The crew was stationed not too far from here on the planet's surface, meaning that he could easily call for backup should something go wrong. Still, for the first time in longer than he could remember, he was actually completely alone on this one.

A small part of him wanted to take advantage of this freedom-would anyone really notice if he just had one drink while he was here? It might actually help him blend in-the owner of this place (a gigantic man named Yama, if he'd heard the name correctly), didn't seem quite pleased with the fact that he was hanging around inside of his establishment without purchasing anything. He kept glaring at him from over the bar, making the skin on the back of the young jedi's neck crawl with uneasiness. Ezra didn't want to start anything and blow his cover, and he was seriously considering using a few of the credits that he'd stored up over the years in order to actually purchase something and appease the mob boss. But before he could, a spotlight flashes to life, diverting his attention.

For one terrifying moment Ezra is convinced that he's been sold out and the light was there to expose him to the Imperials. But then he hears cheering and, with great relief, he realizes that the light was illuminating a patch of bare floor in the middle of the bar. Curiosity getting the better of him, he gets up from his table to investigate what the source of all the ruckus was. He knew that he should be focusing on trying to find his source, but it couldn't hurt to just take a peek, right?

It was a bit of a challenge to get to a spot where he could actually see what was happening, and at some point during his struggles he hears music beginning to play, soft and rhythmic but with a strong beat to it. Eventually he manages to make his way past enough people to be able to get a look at what was happening. He didn't expect it to be anything particularly special, probably just some kind of entertainment that cantinas put on to draw in more customers. What he also didn't expect was to have his breath completely taken away by what he saw.

He'd never been a big fan of dancing or music, and even at festivals he'd managed to stumble across over the years, he'd never really cared for the presentations that dancers put on. Not that he had anything against them, but he'd just never really had any interest in them. And after meeting Hera and hearing about how her people were often sold into slavery to perform entertainment for sick, twisted masters who thought it was perfectly acceptable to own another living being, he'd had even less interest in anything of this sort. And yet, somehow, in spite of all of that, this particular dancer who was performing managed to catch and hold his attention.

Shoulder length raven hair, lithe body swathed in a shimmering rainbow of gauzes, and liquid brown eyes framed by thick lashes, the girl (or was it a boy?) was breathtaking. They weren't just dancing with the music-it was as if they were actually one with the music, swaying and spinning in an almost hypnotic fashion. And watching the dancer was making Ezra feel things that he hadn't felt-hadn't allowed himself to feel-in a very long time.

It wasn't that Ezra had never thought about other people in _that_ way before. Hell, when he'd joined the Ghost crew, he'd (rather embarrassingly, in hindsight) attempted to flirt with Sabine. But the Rebellion had pushed everything else out of importance in the past few years, and any thoughts of romance were quickly squashed in favor of focusing on his mission. Romance could wait until after the Empire had been taken down. And yet, somehow, in this moment, this dancer who he didn't even know was not just chipping away at the walls he'd put up, but had seemingly found the key to a door that Ezra hadn't even realized was there and waltzed right in to make themselves at home.

Unfortunately, after a moment of getting completely lost in the moment, reality quickly sets back in when Ezra sees the dancer making their way up to the Imperial soldiers, dancing in a way that made the young jedi almost blush to watch. He quickly turns away, silently cursing himself for getting distracted. What had he even been thinking? Maybe he really should avoid having any alcohol tonight, something about this place was affecting his judgment.

And yet, just as he was about to make his way back to his table, he feels a familiar tug-almost a premonition. He finds himself turning around, just in time to meet eyes with the dancer. A spark of what seems to be familiarity shows in the performer's eyes, and Ezra finds himself tensing. If this person was as friendly with the Imperials as they appeared, had they recognized him from his wanted posters and was planning to blow his cover? In spite of his fears, though, something holds in place, keeping him from running, and the dancer slowly makes their way over to him, a coy and almost calculating look on their face.

Before Ezra even knew what was happening, the dancer wraps one of their scarves around his waist, pulling him so close that he was sure the other could hear how loudly his heart was pounding. And then the performer leans in to whisper in his ear, making Ezra's heart leap up into his throat.

"Are you looking for me, sailor?" The voice was soft and playful with just a hint of gravel to it.

Ezra's chest felt so tight and he was so distracted by how incredibly close the dancer was that he almost didn't recognize the words for what they were. But a nagging voice in the back of his head finally pierces through the mental fog and a flash of recognition brings him back to the present.

"O-Oh! Y-Yes!" Ezra managers to stammer out before adding a bit more steadily, "I am definitely looking for you."

"I thought so." The dancer grins, their eyes flashing with something that Ezra didn't quite recognize, before whispering, "Meet me after the show-back there by that door. It's where the boss has me put on private shows for customers. We can talk there."

And then, just like that, they were gone, dancing away from Ezra and leaving the poor young man with his head spinning. Had that actually just happened? It had all occurred so quickly that it almost felt like he'd imagined it. And maybe he had. But he didn't have anything else to go on, and so, dazedly, he started making his way towards the door that the dancer had indicated, hoping to the Force that he was doing the right thing and not being lured into a trap.

It took what felt like both an eternity and no time at all for the show to finish and for the performer, as promised, to make their way through the crowds and back to Ezra. Their hips were swaying rather alluringly as they make their way over, and the rebel was given quite a run for his money trying to keep his eyes stoically on appropriate parts of the other teen's body.

"This way," the dancer purrs when they reach him, brushing past him a little closer than was entirely necessary as they produce a key tied to a length of silk ribbon around their neck. The stranger's sweet yet musky scent suddenly wafts pass Ezra's nose and almost makes the jedi follow them blindly into the tiny dark room. But just as the two were about to enter, the owner of the cantina steps into their path, a dangerous scowl on his face.

"Hiro," the gigantic man thunders. "This had better be a _paying_ customer."

Hiro. So that was the dancer's name, Ezra distantly thinks. He was thinking about stepping in, not liking the way that the older man was towering over the performer in a rather threatening manner. But Hiro shows himself to be entirely capable of taking care of matters on his own, his coy demeanor dropping for a moment as he glares up at his boss, stating in mincing words, "You know I never take any other kind. I don't do this because I enjoy it."

Something about that seems to satisfy Yama, and he just nods before returning to his other patrons. Hiro sticks his tongue out at his retreating form, the almost childish act surprising Ezra. But before he can think too much about it, Hiro was grabbing his wrist and pulling him into the dark room, closing the door behind them.

For a moment they were in total darkness, and Ezra finds himself tensing, prepared for this to all turn out to be a ruse-it wouldn't be his first time being betrayed by a supposed informant, and he had to be prepared to fight his way out of here if things turned south, no matter how attractive his potential opponent happened to be. (Wait, had he actually just called the dancer _attractive_?)

But only seconds later a light flickers on and Hiro turns to him, all traces of the cocksure, sultry dancer from the show gone. In it's place was a boy, not much younger than Ezra, who looked like he'd seen entirely too much of the wrong side of life for someone who'd lived so short a period of time. He looked exhausted, and his eyes held a distinctly haunted quality. But there was also fierce determination in them as he says tersely, "Sorry you had to see all that out there. I know, it's disgusting. But I have to make a living somehow, and, besides, sometimes when you get cosy with the Imperials they tend to get a little loose lipped, especially if you add some alcohol into the mix, so it serves my purposes."

"I-I… Uh… It's fine?" Eza manages to get out, not really sure how to take this complete one-eighty in the other boy's demeanor.

Hiro offers him a rather miserable looking smile before suddenly startling and beginning to scrabble at his outfit, quietly cursing until he apparently finds what he's looking for. A relieved, even proud, expression on his face, he holds a data stick out to Ezra. "Here! This is everything that I've gotten since my last drop. Hopefully it can help you guys."

"Thank you!" Ezra offers him a grateful smile, reaching out for the stick. Good, this was something that he knew how to handle. But just as his hand is about to close around the silver device, suddenly Hiro yanks it away.

"Not so fast." A suspicious scowl crosses the dancer's face. "Quid pro quo."

"Quid pro what?" Ezra repeats, frowning at the unfamiliar phrase.

"Quid pro quo," Hiro spits still holding the stick out of reach. "I got intelligence for you guys-and not easily, I might add. I was told that, in exchange for this, you guys would give me news about Tadashi."

"Tadashi?" Ezra raises a confused eyebrow. "What or who is Tadashi?"

"My brother!" Hiro answers, a slightly desperate look replacing the distrtust. "He was taken by the Imperials a year ago because he was helping your stupid Rebellion! One of our parents' friends, Robert Callaghan, sold him out, and he was taken away from me. I only agreed to help you guys because you promised to have news on where they're keeping him. Now cough it up, or you're never getting your hands on this!"

"I… I'm so sorry, no one ever mentioned a brother to me…" Ezra stammers, horror at the story he'd just heard filling his chest. Hiro's brother had been taken? It was all too familiar a tale to the young jedi. But why had the Rebellion promised information about Tadashi to Hiro and yet never mentioned anything of the sort to him?

"No…" Hiro whispers, eyes going wide, shaking his head as he starts backing away from Ezra. "No! Y-You have to have information about where they're keeping him! You have to!"

"I-I don't…" Ezra answers, almost wishing that he could sink into the floor as he sees the other boy visibly crumbling in front of him.

"No… T-Tadashi…" Hiro drops to the ground, thin shoulders quivering under his gauzy dancer's outfit. "I-I was to save him…" His head snaps up and angry fire burns in his eyes as he shouts, "I WAS FINALLY GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE AND SAVE HIM! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN I COULDN'T TRUST YOU!"

"I wasn't told anything about your brother!" Ezra just barely manages to catch Hiro's wrists in his hands before the younger man can land a blow on him with his fists. "But I think I can help you!"

"Why should I trust you?" Hiro demands, glaring up at him. "All you stupid rebels care about is your idiotic movement! You just wanted to use me and then leave me here in this hell!"

"I don't know what the others promised you, but I'm not like that!" Ezra fires back. "Look, I know what it's like losing someone you love to the Empire! They took my parents, and I never got to see them again! But my crew helped me find out what happened to them, and I know they can help you too if you'll just give us a chance to help you! Please, let us help you!"

"...How do I know you're not lying to me?" Hiro asks, still looking suspicious but at least finally lowering his fists. "How do I know you're not just going to betray me like everyone else in this god forsaken galaxy?"

"I don't know," Ezra sighs. "All I have to give you is my word. And I know that's probably not near enough for you, but I'm asking you to give me a chance. I've seen the Empire tear apart too many families, and if there's even a chance I can get you back together with yours, I want to do everything that I can to make sure that happens."

Hiro stares up at him in trepidation for another minute, but then finally his tiny shoulders sink. "I guess wherever you take me, it's got to be better than this place," he sighs.

"How exactly did you end up in a place like this?" Ezra asks softly, knowing that he should be focusing on getting the two of them out of here but wanting to learn this boy's story.

"Not much to tell, really." Hiro offers him a weak smile. "My brother worked as an engineer to support the two of us, and I worked back alley droid fights. I was actually pretty good at them, but they got me into trouble sometimes. Tadashi was always there to save me when I got onto rocky ground with Yama, who pretty much runs this whole town. After the Imperials took him, though, I didn't have that protection anymore, and I found myself in debt to a very dangerous man who decided that I could 'repay' him by earning money with my body in this hell hole. Like I said, it's not all bad-I found a way to use it to my advantage, trying to find out anything I could from the Imperials who come into this place about my brother. And when the Rebellion approached me, saying they could help me if I was willing to help them, I took them up on it, thinking they'd actually keep their word. But apparently I'm just a naive idiot, just like my stupid brother…"

Ezra was completely disgusted by the idea that someone would take advantage of a poor kid like that, but he forces himself to keep his anger in check, at least for the moment. It wouldn't do any good to go off half cocked on a one man mission of justice-it would actually probably only make things worse, not better. And there were much better ways that he could put his energies to use in helping Hiro.

"Hey," he says gently, putting a hand on the dancer's shoulder. "You weren't wrong for trying to do whatever you could to try to find your brother. But now you've got me, and I'm going to help get you back to him, no matter what it takes. Will you trust me enough to come with me so that I can do that?"

Hiro still seems a bit doubtful, but finally he nods, agreeing softly, "Okay. I guess it's not like I have any other choice but to trust you, right? Wherever you take me, whatever you might do to me, it's not like it can be any worse than here."

"Yeah." It broke Ezra's heart to see Hiro so damaged by his current life that even torture or death by strangers seemed like a better alternative to what he was currently experiencing. And it only strengthened the jedi's resolve to do whatever he could to help him.

"Is there a back way out of here?" Ezra asks, glancing around at their surroundings.

"Not one that we could easily get to," Hiro answers with a wry smile. "Yama doesn't want his prize 'employee' running out on him, now does he?"

"Hm…" Ezra turns to the back wall of the closet, feeling it with his hands. Whatever material it was made of, it didn't seem too terribly thick. Maybe, just maybe…

"Where does this lead to?" he asks, turning back to Hiro.

"Uh, nowhere? It's a wall, genius," Hiro answers, quirking an eyebrow.

"No, I mean are there any rooms behind here, or is this a wall to the outside?" Ezra responds.

"I think just the outside?" Hiro starts to answer with a small frown. "But what does that matter?"

"Stand back and you'll see," Ezra tells him with a smirk, reaching under his robes and pulling out his lightsaber, hoping to the Force that this would work.

"What is- HOLY SHIT." Hiro's eyes go wide as the green blade suddenly appears from the base. "I-Is that…?"

"A lightsaber? Yeah," Ezra chuckles, momentarily allowing himself to enjoy the expression on the other's face.

"Wow… I thought these things were only legends…" Hiro whispers, a small spark of excitement showing in his eyes. "C-Can I look at it? I've always wanted to know how they work!"

"After I get us out of her, you can look it all you want," Ezra promises, surprising even himself. Usually he was very careful with his saber and who he let touch it, but this was the first time he'd actually seen Hiro looking genuinely happy and somewhere deep down he wanted to protect that precious smile, no matter what it took.

"Get us out of here?" Hiro repeats, seeming confused, and then understanding dawns on his face. "Oh. Oh!" A small chuckle escapes his lips and a playful smile crosses his face as he gestures to the wall. "Well, by all means, lead the way, hero."

Ezra finds himself beaming in spite of himself at that, and he quickly turns his attention to his work to keep the other man from seeing the blush that he was pretty sure was glowing on his cheeks.

It took less than a minute to cut a hole large enough for both of them, and together they climb through it to freedom.

"Do you need to get anything before we leave here?" Ezra asks as he helps Hiro out.

"No. Everything I care about is in here," Hiro answers, patting a small bag under his robes, an almost eager gleam showing in his eyes as he looks back at the cantina. A laugh burbling up out of his chest, he cheerfully flips off the building that had been his prison for so long and all of its inhabitants before turning back to Ezra.

"C'mon." He reaches out and takes the other man's hand in his own. "Get me as far away from here as possible."

"That can be arranged." Ezra beams down at him before taking off running towards the ship, Hiro laughing with delight as he chases after him.

"Don't let go, okay?" Ezra tells him as they run through the tall, dry grass that covered this planet's surface, the distant glowing figure of the Ghost that was drawing ever nearer.

"I won't," Hiro promises, his hold on the other man's hand tightening.

It was enough to send butterflies through Ezra's chest, and he finds his grin growing even wider. No matter how long it took, he would help Hiro find his brother and make that smile on his face permanent. And if maybe along the way he was lucky enough to maybe become someone who could also bring that beautiful smile to Hiro's face? Well, he certainly wouldn't mind that. He wouldn't mind that at all.


	2. Chapter 2

When the two finally reach the open ramp that was waiting for them, Ezra lets out a sigh of relief. Fortunately they'd managed to make it back to the ship before anyone had noticed that Hiro had gone missing. But he didn't trust their luck to hold for much longer and so, as soon as they're safely inside, he calls out, "Hera, we need to get going! _Now_."

"Ezra, what's going on?" Kanan asks, stepping out from a side corridor. "Is everything okay?"

"We've kind of got a situation!"

"What kind of situation?"

"A situation where we might have angry people coming after us any minute now?"

"Wait, what? Why? This was supposed to be a simple intelligence mission!

"Well, things got complicated!" Ezra answers as the hatch starts to close.

"Who's the kid?" Sabine asks, coming to investigate the ruckus and looking Hiro over with a mix of interest and suspicion.

"He's our informant," Ezra explains, feeling Hiro suddenly pressing up against his side, as if nervous around so many new people. "Or, he _was_ our informant, but it wasn't safe for him to stay there anymore so I had to get him out."

Kanan frowns, as if about to say something, but just as he opens his mouth Hera's voice crackles over the intercom, instructing everyone to get into position for takeoff, and so he turns without a word to head to the cockpit to help copilot the ship.

"C'mon." Ezra gently nudges Hiro. "Let's go get you a seat."

"Where exactly are we going?" Hiro asks, sounding a bit nervous.

"For now? Away from here," Ezra answers before adding with a grin, "And after that? Hopefully to wherever your brother is."

Hiro grins back at him, gratefully squeezing his hand before following him to the cockpit.

"Looks like we've got some company," Hera says as they enter, gesturing out the window to where a rather rough looking group of men was heading towards the ship. "Ezra, just what exactly did you do this time?"

"Why does everyone keep blaming me for this?" Ezra protests.

"Maybe because you're the only one who was off this ship the entire time we were here," Zeb answers, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up!" Ezra glares at him. "It was for a good cause, okay?"

"That's what you always say," Zeb returns, shaking his head.

"Both of you be quiet-you can argue once we're in hyperspace." Hera gives them both a warning look. "For now we need to focus on getting out of here!"

"Yes ma'am," Ezra mumbles, and Zeb just nods in response, looking cowed by the reprimand.

"Whoa…" Hiro gasps as the Ghost starts to lift off the ground, eyes going wide and hands clutching at the sides of the seat Ezra had indicated for him to take.

"You okay?" Ezra asks, noticing his distress.

"I've just… Never been on a ship that was actually flying before," Hiro admits breathlessly.

"It's going to be okay." Ezra squeezes his shoulder. "I promise, this is the safest ship in the galaxy, and Hera is probably the best pilot who's ever lived. You're going to be fine."

Hiro offers him a weak smile before shutting his eyes and starting to breathe heavily, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Not being needed elsewhere (the insurgents on the ground didn't have the proper weapons to even so much as scratch the Ghost's paint), Ezra stays by his side as they continue to ascend, wanting to make sure that he was really all right.

"Jumping to hyperspace," Hera announces once they've successfully cleared the planet's atmosphere.

"Don't worry, the worst part is almost over," Ezra whispers to Hiro, who had flinched at the announcement.

Hiro nods his head silently in answer, refusing to open his eyes for the time being.

Ezra glances out the large window in front of them, keeping his eye on it so that he'd know when to tell the other teen it was safe to open his eyes. There was the familiar blur of white pinpricks of light as they make the jump, and then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, the ship was floating peacefully in inky darkness, only the distant stars providing illumination to their surroundings.

"It's over," Ezra says softly, squeezing Hiro's shoulder again. "We made it out of there and we're just floating now-nothing to be afraid of."

Hiro slowly opens one eye and then the other, not quite seeming to believe him. But after a moment his frame seems to relax, appearing grateful that they had finally stopped moving (or at least any movement that was perceptible.) And then his eyes fasten on the view that the window offered and he lets out a quiet gasp.

"Whoa…"

"Incredible, isn't it?" Ezra beams at him, glad that he seemed to be enjoying it.

"Totally!" Hiro agrees, getting up out of his chair and hurrying over to the window to get a better look, pressing his face up against the glass and trying to take it all in at once. "I've never seen anything like it! It's… It's… It's _sick_!"

Ezra had never heard the word sick being used in that particular context before, but he could only guess from the grin on Hiro's face that it was meant positively.

"Ezra?" The young jedi was so caught up in watching the other teen's awestruck face that he didn't even hear Hera walking up behind him until she places a hand on his shoulder. He turns to face her, only to feel his stomach drop down to the floor when he sees the expression on her face.

"We need to talk," Kanan adds, coming up next to the pilot.

Shit. Double disapproving looks. He was in for it. But it wasn't like he'd done anything wrong-they would have done the same thing if they'd been in his place! Hopefully they'd be willing to listen to him before launching into a lecture about bringing strangers into the ship without asking permission first.

"I can't leave him by himself-this is his first time in space and he doesn't know anyone else on this ship!" Ezra quietly tells them, gesturing to Hiro and hoping that he could buy himself some time.

"I can look after him!" Sabine quickly puts in with a far too eager grin.

"All right then, that's settled," Hera agrees before not so gently starting to guide Ezra out into the hallway.

"What is your problem?" Ezra asks as soon as they're out of hearing range of Hiro. "Why are you acting like I did something wrong when I just saved someone?"

"Ezra, I know that your intentions were in the right place," Hera begins gently.

"But we would have appreciated you at least giving us a heads up before bringing a stranger aboard the ship and then having us fly off without even giving us a chance to find out who he is," Kanan continues.

"Like I was trying to tell you earlier, he's our informant!" Ezra answers.

"He's the informant?" Hera asks, frowning as she takes in this new information.

"That does changed things," Kanan admits before asking, "Are you sure he really is the informant? You were barely gone for half an hour, and with the time it took you to get to the cantina and back, that's not exactly enough time to make sure that he's the real deal. You know that I trust your judgment, but especially with Thrawn throwing everything he can at us right now, we have to be more careful than ever. Can you be sure that he isn't be someone posing as an informant who's being paid off by the Empire?"

"He's not working for the Empire!" Ezra cries. "He hates the Empire because they took his brother-there's no way that they would be working for them!"

"As much as I'd like to believe that that's true" Kanan answers carefully, "I'd rather make sure before letting him in on any sensitive information."

"I'd say a safe test would be checking the information that he has for us-if he's actually giving us something that can help us fight the Empire, then that's a good sign that he's on our side," Hera suggests.

"That sounds like a fair assessment," Kanan agrees before turning back to the blue haired teen. "All right-where's the data stick that he was supposed to have for us?"

"I… Don't have it," Ezra admits miserably.

"You don't have it?" Kanan repeats, looking aghast. "Ezra, what were you doing at the cantina if you weren't getting the data stick? You know how important it is, it's the whole reason we used all that fuel to come out this far!"

"I don't have it _yet_!" Ezra quickly amends. "Hiro was going to give it to me, but he was planning to give us the data stick with the intelligence that he'd gathered in return for information about his brother's whereabouts. And we all know that we weren't given any information about a brother prior to this mission. Can you blame him for not trusting us after that?"

"...I suppose not," Kanan answers.

"Hera, please." Ezra turns to the pilot, hoping that he could appeal to her. "After his brother was taken, Hiro was forced into prostitution by the man who ran the cantina we were supposed to rendezvous in because he owed him money. All this time he's been stuck there, forced to work as a sex slave day in and day out. I had to help him get away from there! Can you really tell me that I did the wrong thing by trying to save him from that?"

Hera's expression was slightly horrified, but still she asks quietly, "Are you sure that he's telling the truth about that?"

"I witnessed it first hand-he wasn't making it up," Ezra answers, trying to push his advantage now. "Please-he doesn't have anywhere else to go and I think he really needs us right now. And not just because he needs our help to find his brother. He needs someone to show him that he's not alone in the galaxy-that there's still goodness out there and people who care about him. He neeps _hope_. Isn't that why we're doing all of this-to bring hope to hurting people?"

He knew that that last part would strike a chord with Hera, and her expression was softening. Kanan, for his part, looked like he was also slowly coming around to the idea of keeping Hiro on board, and he asks rhetorically, "Are we really thinking about picking up another kid from off the streets?"

"Hey, you picked me up off the streets and you see how well that turned out!" Ezra answers, attempting to suppress a grin. He was making progress!

"Where would he stay? It's not like we have a lot of extra room around here," Kanan observes, frowning as he thinks over the logistics.

"Kallus and Zeb share a bunk whenever Kallus is with us-Hiro can share mine!" Ezra answers quickly.

"What do you think, Hera?"

Both Kanan and Ezra look to the pilot, who appeared to still be deep in thought. Finally she looks up at both of them and says wryly, "I don't really see what we can do right now except keep him with us. We certainly can't send him back to where he was, and now that he's with us it's our responsibility to look after him-I'm certainly not going to just leave him to fend for himself on some unfamiliar planet."

"And we'll help him find his brother?" Ezra presses.

"Yes," Hera answers, a smile making its way onto her face. "If there's anything we can do to help him locate his brother, then we'll do it. I can't guarantee that it will be on the top of our priority list right now with everything that's going on. But we will do everything that we can to help him."

"Thank you!" Ezra beams at both of the adults, relief flooding through him. Hiro was allowed to stay!

"I guess we're adding to the family," Kanan agrees, also smiling, before adding more seriously, "But Ezra, you're responsible for looking after him. And if you see him doing anything suspicious, you are to report it to us immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," Ezra agrees, giving him a playful salute, too overjoyed by his success to take his master's warning seriously.

"Now can I go check on him?" he asks. "Sabine's said that she'd keep an eye on him, but I don't trust her not to have dyed his hair an entirely different color by now."

"Yes, you can go," Hera chuckles.

"Thank you!" Ezra flashes her a grateful grin before hurrying back into the cockpit.

"Hey Ezra!" Sabine smiles when she sees him heading her way. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine, we worked everything out," Ezra answers carefully, feeling that she was being uncharacteristically cheerful about all of this and not quite trusting her not to have something up her sleeve.

"That's good!" Sabine beams at him before gesturing to Hiro and adding with a wink, "I was just getting to know your new friend! He's pretty cute, isn't he?"

Ezra finds his cheeks flushing red in spite of himself. Over the past couple years Sabine had started trying to play matchmaker for him, attempting to set him up with various members of the Rebellion who were around his own age. Usually he'd just blow her off or demand that she stop trying to interfere in his love life. But right now, with the somewhat confusing feelings that he had for Hiro swirling around inside of him, the last thing that he needed was her trying to suss out his level of attraction for the other teen. Unfortunately, as much as he was trying to hide his emotions, he was pretty sure that his mutinous body (which was making him blush as bright pink as a ripe meiloorun) was giving her all of the information that she needed to know about exactly how he felt about their new passenger.

Hiro, for his part, was looking incredibly embarrassed as Sabine grins between the two of them, looking as cheerful a loth cat that had just caught a nuna for dinner. Ezra was only too glad when Hera walks into the room, breaking up the awkwardness (at least momentarily) by coming over and offering the newcomer a warm smile, saying, "We're very happy to have you on board, Hiro. And I want you to know that we're going to do everything that we can to help you find your brother."

"Thank you…" Hiro offers her a small smile, seeming slightly shy in her presence and moving just a little bit closer to Ezra again.

"I know it's been a long day for you," Hera continues gently. "Have you had a chance to eat anything?"

"I think I ate something this morning?" Hiro answers, frowning as if he was having a hard time remembering the last time that he'd ingested food. "I sometimes got food from one of the cooks in the kitchen if they messed up an order and they were going to have to throw it away anyways, but usually Yama only let me eat once a day at most. He said that the customers liked it better if I was skinny and so I couldn't eat so I wouldn't gain any weight. Besides, starving me kept me from having enough energy to run away."

"He did what?" Zeb cries from where he'd so far been only silently watching the exchange from the corner, looking completely disgusted by what he'd just heard.

"Come on." Hera, who was looking very much like a protective mother hen at the moment, starts herding Hiro towards the ship's small galley. "We don't have much-we need to do a supply run soon-but we'll find you something to eat in here."

"I don't want to take your food!" Hiro protests.

"Trust me, you need it more than we do," Hera answers firmly, opening one of the cabinets and pulling out a ration bar. "Here. It might not taste the greatest, but it's got a lot of nutrients in it and you need those right now."

"Thank you…" Hiro offers her a small smile before accepting the bar from her, carefully tearing the wrapper open and taking a bite from it.

As emaciated as he looked upon further inspection (Ezra still couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed the fact that that the other teen was literally starving, although in his defense all those scarves and wraps did a pretty good job of hiding it), Ezra half expected Hiro to swallow the bar in one gulp. Instead, though, Hiro takes small, careful bites, as if savoring every morsel. Ezra knew from experience how it felt not to know where your next meal was coming from or when you'd be able to have food again, but apparently he and Hiro had two very different ways of responding to actually receiving food. Ezra always had scarfed down whatever he'd gotten his hands on, afraid that someone would steal it away if given half a chance, whereas Hiro seemed to want to take it slow to enjoy the rare luxury. Ezra wasn't sure that Hiro's idea was smarter if you were living on the streets, but, then again, maybe Hiro's method had its own merits. Ezra had almost made himself sick his first night on the Ghost when he'd practically choked down the first ration bar Hera had given him, so taking it slow probably made the food settle a little easier into an empty stomach.

Things were rather quiet as Hiro ate-everyone had clustered into or around the galley, as if wanting to ensure that the newcomer was actually getting some much needed nutrition (even Kanan seemed to have softened completely towards the boy, finding it easier to believe his story now that he had concrete evidence of the type of life that he'd lived up to this point.) If Hiro felt awkward with so many people watching him, he didn't show it, too focused on the food to really notice anything else. Finally he finishes the bar and looks up at the others, offering Hera a small, grateful smile as he says, "Thank you. I really appreciate everything that you're doing for me…"

"We're glad to help," Hera reassures him, smiling back, before adding, "Now, I'll bet you're tired after everything that's happened today, so why don't we get you into a bed for the night? You look half asleep on your feet."

"Sleep sounds good," Hiro admits, the exhaustion showing on his face.

"I offered to let you share my bunk," Ezra tells him. "Unfortunately we don't have enough bunks for everyone to have your own, but if you don't mind sharing with me…? If you do, it's fine, I can crash here in the cockpit tonight!"

"No way am I letting you sleep in the cockpit!" Hiro protests. "If anyone's sleeping out here, it's me! I don't want to take your bed away from you!"

"Well I'm not letting you sleep in the cockpit while I'm in a bunk after everything you've been through!" Ezra answers argues. "So if you're sleeping out here, then I am too!"

"...I guess I don't mind sharing a bunk with you, then, if you're going to be so stubborn," Hiro finally tells him with a wry smile as he stands up.

"I am," Ezra agrees with a grin before gently placing a hand on the small of the other teen's back to guide him. "C'mon, my cabin's this way. I have to share it with the walking purple carpet you saw back there, but you get used to the snoring."

"I'll take your word for it," Hiro chuckles, seeming amused by the prospect.

It doesn't take long at all to reach the cabin, and soon Ezra is helping Hiro up the ladder (the poor teen was so tired that he didn't seem very steady on his feet and Ezra has to make sure that he doesn't fall off.) Once he's safely settled into the bunk, the young jedi climbs up after him.

"You comfortable?" Ezra asks as he lies down next to him, knowing that the mattress on the cot wasn't the softest in the world but hoping that it was soft enough that Hiro would be able to sleep on it.

"This feels amazing," Hiro answers, almost beaming as he feels the cushioning beneath them with his hands. "Usually I just had to sleep on the floor with an old blanket, so this is a million times better!"

Ezra's heart aches for Hiro-what had he done to deserve such a hard life? Sadly, it seemed, fate didn't really care about whether a person had done anything to deserve a hard blow or not. Horrible things just happened, to the good and the bad, and there wasn't anything that anybody could do to change that. Still, it seemed like fate had finally given Hiro a good turn by sending Ezra his way, and now the young jedi was determined to do everything that he could to protect him from any more harm.

"You ready to get some sleep?" Ezra asks, preparing to turn the lights off if Hiro was.

"In just a second," Hiro answers, starting to unwrap his scarves and gauzes. "If I sleep in these things, usually I get all tangled up in them and it's a mess in the morning." He eyes the garments distastefully as he adds, "Now that I'm out of that hell hole, I'd almost like to burn this stuff. I never want to have to wear them again. But I guess I have to keep wearing them because I don't have anything else..."

"I don't blame you," Ezra tells him sympathetically, wishing that there was something that he could do to help. And then an idea pops into his mind that might help make things at least a little bit better for Hiro.

"How about this?" he says. "We're going to be making a supply run soon anyways. Maybe we can find someone in town who would buy your old clothes-I'm sure those fabrics would get a good number of credits since they look like they're pretty expensive-and then we can use the money from that to buy you some new clothes that you'll actually like and are a little more practical. How does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect!" Hiro agrees, a genuine grin crossing his face as he kicks off the last of his outer garments, leaving him in a small, thin shift which revealed how truly tiny he was. Ezra was suddenly very aware of how small and breakable Hiro was. It almost made him wonder if sharing a bed with him was a good idea-he was afraid of accidentally snapping one of those delicate bones if he accidentally rolled onto him during the night.

Still, Hiro seemed to have no such concerns, almost cheerfully relegating his dancer's clothes to the end of the bed before contentedly lying down on the mattress, taking the side closest to the wall.

"You can turn the lights off now," he tells Ezra.

"O-Okay," Ezra agrees, trying to be careful as he switches off the light and lies back down next to Hiro. After a moment he realizes that maybe he hadn't thought the whole idea of sharing a bunk with an extremely attractive guy through all the way. He was incredibly aware of Hiro's body lying next to his- could feel the soft warmth radiating off of him through the darkness and could hear every soft breath passing in and out of his lips. This had been a horrible idea, really. He was terrified to move even an inch and risk brushing up against the other teen. But he comforts himself with the fact that, as long as they each stayed on their side of the mattress, then things would be fine. Only things didn't quite work out like that.

"Hey, Ezra?" Hiro's voice breaks through the almost stifling blackness surrounding them.

"Y-Yeah, Hiro?" Ezra answers, swallowing a bit thickly.

He waits for a reply, but when he doesn't get one after a few minutes he supposes that Hiro must have fallen asleep. Just as he was starting to relax, though, he hears a shuffling sounds and then, moments later, Hiro was pressing against his side, nuzzling into his shoulder.

Ezra almost has a heart attack on the spot, but somehow manages to contain himself, trying to keep his voice level as he asks, "H-Hiro, is everything okay?"

"Sorry…" Hiro mumbles, sounding embarrassed. "It's just that-whenever Tadashi and I were on our own, we shared a bed like this and sometimes at night if I was having trouble sleeping he'd hold me until I'd fall asleep. I-I know it's really stupid and childish…"

"No, it's not!" Ezra hurries to reassure him, understanding how important little things that reminded you of home were. "Trust me, it's fine. And if that's what you need, then I'm more than happy to do it, okay?"

"Really?" Hiro asks, sounding hopeful.

"Really," Ezra reassures him before reaching out and carefully wrapping his arms around the other teen. "Is this good?"

"Yeah," Hiro answers, scooching a little bit closer before resting his head on Ezra's chest. "It's absolutely perfect."

"I'm glad to hear that." Even though it was a little awkward for Ezra given he'd never been much on physical forms of affection, it was what Hiro needed and he would have done anything in that moment to make him happy.

"Good night, Ez," Hiro mumbles, sounding happier and more content than he had since Ezra had met him.

"Good night, Hiro," Ezra answers, resisting the sudden urge to place a small kiss on the other teen's cheek, instead settling for resting his chin on the top of his head. Hiro nuzzles into the contact, and Ezra soon finds himself drifting off, feeling completely at peace with the world for the moment knowing that Hiro safe and happy in his arms.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next week, Hiro slowly settled into life on the Ghost. At first Ezra was afraid that Hiro might get a bit claustrophobic being stuck on a ship in the middle of space all the time, but Hiro reminded him that he'd spent years living in a dingy bar, forced to stay in his tiny closet most of the time, so anywhere away from there was paradise. It still made Ezra furious to think of someone as sweet and intelligent as Hiro being forced into such a life, but instead of focusing on his anger, he did his best to channel those feelings into helping the other teen enjoy his newfound freedom to its fullest.

It had taken him a little while to figure out what exactly Hiro enjoyed doing. The newcomer was a bit shy around the other crew members and, while everyone was doing their best to help him feel welcome, he didn't talk much unless he was alone with Ezra. Even when he was with Ezra, he didn't always speak a lot. He seemed to enjoy just sitting next to the young jedi, sometimes leaning up against him, not saying a word but just soaking in the presence of a human being who actually saw him as a person and not as an object to be used for money or pleasure. Ezra had never exactly been a great conversationalist himself. His time with the Ghost crew had helped him come out of his shell, but he didn't feel it necessary to fill silences with idle chatter like many others did. So if Hiro just wanted to sit and enjoy his company without saying anything? He certainly didn't have a problem with that.

There was one of the other member of the crew that Hiro had actually opened up to, much to the surprise of all the others-Chopper. Hiro had been absolutely fascinated with the droid since his first time, going on and on about how incredible he was. Chopper, in turn, had eaten Hiro's admiration right up and almost seemed to have adopted the teen. He would gently prod him when he seemed to be feeling too nervous to eat around the others or saying something funny in binary when he'd see the boy looking sad to make him laugh. Ezra had never seen Chopper acting so downright _nice_ towards anyone-hadn't even thought that he had it in him to act this kindly towards another being-but Hiro seemed to really appreciate it and so he'd decided not to question it.

Hiro's fascination with the droid had actually been what helped Ezra figure out what to do to help him feel more at home here. He finally managed to make the connection between Chopper and what Hiro had mentioned briefly back in the cantina about droid fighting and realized that the teen had a strong love for anything involving robotics. Unfortunately Chopper was the only droid that they had on board and he wasn't in need of any upgrades so there wasn't much Ezra could do to find something that would interest the other teen. But then one day while he was trying to teach Hiro to play dejarik he heard Hera mentioning needing to fix something that was going faulty in one of the Ghost's engine, and when he'd seen Hiro perk up at the mention of repairs, he'd casually asked if Hiro's skills with mechanics went past just just working with robots. When the shaggy haired teen had admitted that he'd actually used to work on ships with his brother, Ezra had practically dragged him to where Hera was working on the repairs to volunteer him to help, saying playfully that he could help "earn his keep" by helping her out.

At first Hiro seemed to feel a bit awkward working around Hera, who had welcomed an extra pair of hands, just passing her the tools as she asked for them. But after only a few minutes he got involved in spite of himself, suggesting different techniques that he'd learned on his home planet that might help the repairs go faster, and he'd gotten so lost in the work that he completely forgot to act shy. By the time that they'd finished their work, both he and Hera were beaming, talking shop about ships and droids like they were old friends, and Ezra could tell that the pilot had officially adopted Hiro as a part of her makeshift little family too.

It was about seven days after Hiro had come aboard, when everything had finally seemed to have settled down into a pleasant sense of normalcy, that Kana announced that they were approaching a planet that would be safe enough that they could finally go on a supply run. They would be arriving by the next day, so he recommended that everyone head to bed early so that they'd have plenty of energy for buying and loading the supplies. Sabine in particular seemed thrilled at the idea of getting a chance to finally refill her stores of paint, and Hiro was more than happy to accept her offer of helping him find a merchant who would buy his old robes and helping him find some new clothes.

"I can help too!" Ezra offers, still not exactly trusting Sabine alone with Hiro.

But his surrogate sister wasn't having that.

"You'll just be in the way," she states breezily. "Besides, it'll ruin the surprise if you come with us! It'll be much more fun for you to get to see him _after_ I've gotten him all spruced up."

"Excuse me?" Ezra protests, his cheeks burning. "What exactly are you planning to do to him? I thought you were just getting him new clothes!"

"You'll see!" Sabine answers with a playful grin.

"Bean! Don't you dare do anything that Hiro isn't okay with!" Ezra cries, feeling protective.

"It's okay, Ezra," Hiro quietly reassures him. "I don't mind. Besides, I know you're going to be really busy tomorrow and I don't want to take you away from your crew."

"...All right," Ezra finally concedes. "But if Sabine tries to makes you do something that you're not okay with then you come and get me if she's not taking 'no' for an answer!"

"I will," Hiro promises with a smile, gently brushing the back of his hand against Ezra's, and that was enough to make the young jedi stop protesting, at least for the moment. Still, as he lay in bed later that night, Hiro nestled up against his side, he couldn't help but worry about what exactly Sabine had planned.

Early the next morning, the Ghost landed on the surface of the planet. Kanan had mention the name of it the day before but Ezra had almost immediately forgotten it-it was so far out into the outer rim that he'd never even heard of it. Still, when he stepped out of the ship onto its desert surface and blinked in the light of its extremely bright sun, he couldn't help but be reminded a little bit of Lothal. The thriving marketplace that was only a short walk from the Ghost had a friendly, open feel to it. The crew appeared to have arrived in the middle of a festival of some sort (non-Empire related, thank goodness), which only added to the cheery atmosphere. Hera promised that there would be time to explore and enjoy the festivities-but only after they'd taken care of the necessary work.

Hiro diligently pitched in to help, carrying his fair share of the provisions back to the Ghost. Sometimes he'd take a crate that was a little bit too much for him to handle, but he'd just soldier on, never admitting that he'd bitten off more than he could chew, and Ezra would subtly reach out with the Force to help him. Hiro eventually caught on to what he was doing when, after he'd almost dropped a crate, it continued to float in the air instead of falling, but when he'd turned back to look at the blue haired jedi, Ezra had just looked innocently away, pretending to be watching a bird flying past, and Hiro never complained so he hoped that meant that he wasn't upset with him for helping.

Almost the moment the last of the supplies were on board, Sabine eagerly grabbed Hiro by the arm and started pulling him off in the direction of a clothes merchant that they'd passed earlier. Ezra tried to make one last argument for being allowed to tag along, but Sabine insisted that she never let anyone see her masterpieces until she was finished with them and so the idea of Ezra coming along was completely out of the question.

If Hiro had seemed at all uncomfortable with any of what was happening, Ezra would have immediately put his foot down and refused to let her go through with her plans. But as it was the younger teen just sort of shrugs and offers him a small wave before allowing himself to be swept away into the bustling marketplace and so he decides to let them go with no further complaints.

Not knowing what else to do with his time until they're done (and knowing that if he stuck around at the ship he might get pulled into doing more work), Ezra chooses to wander through the marketplace, staying as far away as possible from the booth in question to keep from raising the ire of Sabine, something which always held lasting and painful consequences. The festival itself was enough to keep his attention occupied, at least enough that he wasn't constantly wondering what exactly Sabine was planning to do to Hiro. He smiles as he watches children running past, dressed in bright colors, laughing and playing, tugging on their parents' hands to urge them to move faster. He'd never thought he was any good with kids until the mission where he'd met Pypey, but after meeting the force sensitive youngling he'd developed something of a soft spot for the little tykes. They represented innocence and joy and helped remind him of why he was fighting so hard against the Empire-to make sure that kids like them could grow up without having to know the pain that he himself had experienced in his own growing up years, the hardship that had forced him to grow up far too quickly.

After about an hour of walking, he finds himself at the edge of the festival and, seeing nothing but empty desert stretching out in front of him, he turns around, heading back the way he'd come. He finds his pace quickening just the tiniest bit as he makes his way back through the crowds, thinking that surely by now Sabine must be done with whatever she'd been planning. It couldn't take that long to buy new clothes, right?

As he nears the center of the market again, the soft strains of music reach his ears, and as he steps out into the town square, he finds a large ring of dancers surrounding a raised platform where a small band of musicians was providing the tune they were all dancing to. Apparently this was a part of the festival, and Ezra finds himself smiling ins spite of himself as he settles on the sidelines to watch them. He'd never been interested in dances like this before until he'd met Hiro, but now he gets so caught up in trying to work out the intricate pattern of the dancing that he didn't even realize that someone was sneaking up on him until he suddenly felt a light prodding in the small of his back. Startled, he whirls around, prepared to defend himself if it was a thief or someone who had less than his best interests in mind. But instead he finds-

"Hiro!" Ezra grins when he sees the familiar face. "You scared me!"

"Sorry!" Hiro laughs, beaming back. "I couldn't resist!"

"It's okay," Ezra hurries to reassure him before suddenly taking notice of the changes in the other teen's appearance, and he takes a small step back to get a better view of them.

The most obvious change was the clothes-the dancer's garb was finally gone, and in its place was a loose fitting pair of tan colored leggings and a red wrap around tunic that fastened with a sash of deep blue around the waist. They were certainly a lot more practical than the old robes, and Ezra could tell that Hiro felt a lot more comfortable in them. But Sabine apparently hadn't decided to stop there. She hadn't changed the color of Hiro's hair, as he'd feared. But somewhere she must have procured a pair of a scissors and Hiro's hair was noticeably shorter now-still on the long side, but it looked much neater after it's much needed trim. Something about the layers she'd put into it gave it a loose, almost floaty look to it, small wisps dancing in the light breeze. But best of all, it finally got Hiro's previously way overgrown bangs out of his face, and Ezra found his heart skipping a beat in his chest as he realized that he could now clearly see those gorgeous brown eyes any time that he wanted to.

"So, what do you think?" Sabine asks, smiling proudly as she comes up to join them. "Did I do a good job or what?"

"Y-You look great, Hiro," Ezra stammers out, realizing that the other man was still waiting for his response.

"Thanks…" Hiro's cheeks turn the tiniest bit pink as he looks down at his new clothes. "I feel a million times better now that I'm not wearing those old robes anymore. And it's nice actually being able to see again thanks to this haircut." He throws the woman responsible a grateful smile.

"It's some of my better work," Sabine agrees, looking proud of herself.

"It is," Ezra agrees, unable to take his eyes off of Hiro.

"Well, I think I'm not needed here anymore," Sabine observers, looking between the two blushing teens and grinning. "I'm off to go find some paints before Hera and Kanan say we have to get on the ship. Have fun you two-but not _too_ much fun!"

" _Sabine_!" Ezra protests, his cheeks glowing with embarrassment as he glowers at her.

"Just saying!" Sabine beams back at him before slipping off into the crowd.

"So, um… What do you really think?" Hiro asks once she's gone, digging into the sandy dirt with the toe of his newly acquired black boots. "I know you were probably just being nice 'cause she's your friend and all…"

"What? No way!" Eza protests. "You look incredible!" When Hiro still looks doubtful, he adds more fervently, "I mean it! You're probably the most handsome guy in the whole galaxy!"

"T-Thanks…" Hiro stammers out, almost making Ezra wonder if he'd gone a bit too far, but the raven haired teen was smiling as he turns to watch the dancers so he could only hope for the best.

"I've never been any good at dancing," Ezra observes, also keeping his eyes on the dancers and trying to make some sort of conversation keep things from getting awkward.

"Really?" Hiro looks up at him in surprise.

"I never really learned," Ezra admits with a small shrug. "I don't remember my parents ever dancing, and it wasn't like I had time to learn how to dance when I was barely managing to scrape together a living on the streets."

"I don't remember my parents," Hiro answers softly. "Tadashi did, but I was only three when they died, so I don't know if either of them danced. My aunt was a good dancer, though. She taught me and Dashi when she'd come home from work in the evenings sometimes. But that was before we lost her to the fever…"

"I'm sorry," Ezra says gently. He knew how much losing his parents had hurt. He could only imagine how much painful it must have been for Hiro to have lost not only his parents but his aunt, as well as having his brother taken away from him.

Hiro just shrugs in response, and for a little while they stand in silence, Ezra wondering if he'd upset the other teen or even made him angry for bringing up such a sensitive topic, even if it had been an accident. But after a few minutes a soft smile places the frown on Hiro's face as the band begins a new song, something with a sprightly gait to it.

"I think I actually know this one," the raven haired teen observes, and Ezra notices his feet starting to move to the beat.

"You should go dance if you want to," the jedi encourages him.

Hiro looks over at him, a slightly calculating look on his face, before answering, "All right. But I'll need a partner."

"I-I'm sure there are plenty of guys-or girls!-who would be more than happy to dance with you!" Ezra quickly answers, feeling heat creeping up the back of his neck and trying to keep his heart from racing. Surely Hiro didn't mean-

"I don't want just any guy or girl as my partner," Hiro tells him, rolling his eyes but sounding just the tiniest bit shy as he continues, "I want to dance with you. Please?"

Ezra couldn't resist the hopeful expression on his face and, even though he knew he was probably going to look like an idiot, he nods in response. He was rewarded with possibly the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen, and as he allows Hiro to pull him out onto the dance floor he decides that, if he's going to die of embarrassment, at least he'd die having gotten to see that smile.

"Just do what I do," Hiro tells him, gently moving his hands to rest on his waist before putting his own hands on the jedi's shoulders. "I promise this one isn't too hard, you'll pick it up really fast!"

"That's easy for you to say," Ezra mumbles, very much aware of how tiny and delicate Hiro's waist felt under his hands. They almost went all the way around it, it was so small.

"Don't think so much. Loosen up, just go with the music!" Hiro laughs, starting to move along with the song.

Ezra desperately watches his feet, trying to copy him, but somehow he manages to keep stepping in exactly the wrong place, often ending up standing on Hiro's feet.

"I'm sorry!" he apologizes when he finds himself stepping on Hiro's toes for what felt like the twentieth time, hanging his head and feeling burning humiliation smoldering in the pit of his stomach. "I just don't think I'm cut out for this…"

"It's okay," Hiro reassures him yet again. "It just takes some practice!"

"No, it's not okay," Ezra answers, starting to pull away. "You deserve a much better dance partner than me…"

"Well maybe I don't want another dance partner!" Hiro pulls him back in, a fierce look in his eyes as he looks up at him. "Maybe I didn't ask you to dance expecting you to be any good at this. Maybe I just wanted to spend time with you, and the fact that you were actually trying to do this to make me happy means a lot to me!"

"I would do anything to try to make you happy…" The words come out before Ezra has a chance to stop them, and he was just wondering if he has time to take them back when Hiro suddenly lays his head against his chest, saying softly,

"I know."

Ezra inhales sharply through his nose, trying to keep himself from reading too much into this but all the same finding himself hugging Hiro closer, the two of them lost in their own little world in the middle of the dance floor.

"You know I care about you, right?" Hiro finally says softly.

"O-Of course," Ezra answers, doing his best to keep his tone level. "I care about you too. I know that we've only known each other for a week, but you're a really, really good friend, and I can't imagine what my life would be without you now."

"Yeah..." Hiro looks up at him with a shy smile. "I'm really glad to have you as a friend too."

Ezra beams back before Hiro goes back to swaying against him, the two somehow finally finding their rhythm as a slower song starts, both of them revolving in a small circle, the young jedi only having to shuffle his feet a tiny bit to keep up with his partner which was something he could actually accomplish without tripping all over himself.

Part of him wanted to say something more, to try to push for a clearer understanding of what Hiro meant about caring about him, but he somehow had the sense that, at least for now, he should stop. This was a good place that they were in right now. A really, really good place. They were getting to know each other better and better every day, and apparently Hiro had actually started to see him as a friend. And even if Hiro never saw him as anything more than a friend? He was okay with that. He truly was. Hiro was an amazing friend-maybe even someday he might end up becoming his best friend-and just getting to be a part of his life, being someone special to him, even if it wasn't in a romantic way, was enough. He was lucky enough to get to know Hiro, and he knew that he'd always stand by him, no matter what. That was a promise that he was determined to keep, no matter what the galaxy might throw at him. Because that's what friends did. And if Hiro counted him as a friend, that's exactly what he'd do.


	4. Chapter 4

After that day at the market, Ezra wasn't sure if things got better or worse in his relationship with Hiro. It was better because he knew that Hiro actually thought of him as someone important in his life, which was amazing. It was worse because, as much as Ezra was trying to deny it, dancing with Hiro had flipped some sort of switch in him that made his feelings for the teen almost double, and now he was finding himself with a near constant swarm of butterflies bursting into flight in his stomach every time he so much as looked at the other Hiro. He was in deep, and he had no idea how he was supposed to broach the subject with Hiro without destroying the already tenuous balance in their relationship. One wrong move could knock the both of them down off of the tightrope that they were currently balancing on, and that's the last thing that Ezra wanted to happen.

It was almost a relief when, a few weeks later, Hera announced that they were finally heading back to base in order to check in and also to see if they could finally get some information on Tadashi's whereabouts. Of course Ezra was thrilled that they'd finally be getting to help Hiro be reunited with his brother, and it was adorable watching Hiro practically dance around the ship with excitement. But Ezra had another reason for being glad for heading back to base. Being in the very heart of the rebellion, surrounded by so many other people, would hopefully give him a much needed distraction from the rather confusing feelings going on inside of his head. Better yet, maybe being off the ship, in an environment he and Hiro weren't constantly on top of each other due to the rather limited space, would allow him the distance that he needed to finally get some much needed clarity about all of this.

When they finally got to the base, Hiro was more than a little awestruck by the sight of the headquarters of the Rebellion, and not just because the facilities had more than enough tech to make any mechanic drool. This was one of Hiro's first experiences being off of his home planet, and the diversity of species from all over the galaxy mixing and working together in one place was something he'd never been exposed to before. He was clearly doing his best to not stare every time that he encountered a new species that he'd never run into before, but he couldn't hide his fascination in spite of his efforts. Fortunately most of the aliens who he ran into were very kind and greeted him cordially, and soon the overwhelming newness of it all seemed to be wearing off. Still, as well as he was holding up, after a little while Eza could tell that Hiro was getting a little bit worn out by the tour and so he pulls him off into a quiet side corridor to give him a chance to breathe.

"You doing okay?" Ezra asks gently.

"Yeah, fine," Hiro reassures him with a small smile. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this…"

"Hey, don't feel bad-I felt the same way the first time I visited a Rebellion headquarters," Ezra tells him with a small chuckle.

" _A_ Rebellion headquarters? There's more than one?" Hiro asks curiously.

"Well, we have a few outposts across the galaxy," Ezra explains. "But we've gone through quite a number of home bases over time. We can't seem to hang on to one for any length of time before the Empire destroys it."

"The Empire seems to have a habit of destroying things…" Hiro quietly mutters, a dark look crossing his face.

"Hey." Ezra reaches out without even thinking about the consequences and squeezes Hiro's shoulder. "The Empire may destroy a lot of stuff, but that's why we're here to put a stop to them and to put back together the stuff the things that they break apart. Just like we're going to help you put your family back together again."

"Thanks, Ezra…" Hiro offers him a small smile which reveals the tooth gap that Ezra loved so much and the young jedi has to do his best to convince himself that no, the other teen was definitely not blushing and his imagination was just getting the better of him.

He was just trying to think of a good reply that wouldn't make him sound like a total dork when suddenly he hears his com link crackling to life and he quickly grabs it, grateful for the distraction.

"Ezra, are you there?" Hera's voice comes out of the speaker.

"Yeah, I'm here!" Ezra answers. "Hiro and I are just taking a break from the tour. Is everything okay? Have you been able to find out anything?"

"Well, we've definitely had some interesting revelations," Hera answers in a tone that Ezra wasn't quite able to decipher. "Could you please bring Hiro to conference room 3B? I'd rather talk to him in person about all of this."

"Of course!" Ezra tells her. "We'll be right up there!"

"What do you think that means?" Hiro asks as he puts up his communicator, looking a bit nervous. "Do you think she found out something bad?"

"I don't think so," Ezra says carefully, not wanting to give him reassurances that he couldn't back up. "That didn't exactly sound like her bad news voice. Still, it wasn't her good news voice either. I think we'd probably better just get up there and find out what she has to say."

"Y-Yeah," Hiro agrees, his shoulders hunching and making himself look even smaller than he usually did.

"Hey." Ezra takes one of his hands in his own. "It's going to be okay. No matter what happens, I'm going to be here for you."

"Thank you." Hiro squeezes back and together they make their way to the meeting room where Hera was supposed to meet them.

"Hey," Ezra says when the door to the meeting room opens and he finds the pilot inside, looking through data files on a holo projector. "We got here as fast as we could. Is everything okay? Were you able to find anything out? I know that they haven't had a lot of time to try to figure out where Tadashi is but-"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Hera gently cuts him off, gesturing for the two boys to sit next to her at the table.

"What do you mean?" Ezra asks, taking the indicated seat as Hiro does the same.

"It turns out that we're not the only ones who have been looking for Tadashi," Hera explains as she turns to Hiro. "Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Fred Lee?"

"Lee? Isn't that the last name of one of the senators who's a rebel sympathizer?" Ezra asks before Hiro can get answer out.

"Yes, Senator Stan Lee," Hera answers, giving Ezra a look that reminded him that he needed to give Hiro a chance to speak. "Fred Lee is his son."

"Holy shit…" Hiro quietly breathes, his eyes wide as he stares at Hera in shock. "Fred's the son of a senator? I had no idea…"

"Wait, you know him?" Ezra asks, looking at him in surprise.

"Not personally," Hiro answers, shaking his head. "But I know that he knew Tadashi. There was only one time that Tadashi actually went off planet on a mission-I remember being terrified the entire time that he was gone that he was never going to come back. He didn't tell me much about it after he came home-said whatever he'd done was classified. But after the mission he started getting calls on his holo communicator from a guy named Fred. I think- I'm not sure, but I think maybe they were romantically involved? I don't really know, Tadashi didn't tell me much about him. I used to tease him about it, asking him when his boyfriend was coming for a visit so I could finally meet him. Dashi would always say that it was too dangerous for Fred to know where we lived and so not to plan on him coming to see us any time soon. I thought maybe he was kind of too ashamed to let Fred see the tiny little shack we lived in. I guess if he was dating a senator's son then he kind of had good reason to be worried about him seeing how poor we were… But that's not important right now What does Fred have to do with any of this?"

"It turns out that Fred has actually been trying to find Tadashi as well," Hera answers, a small smile making its way onto her face. "He's been trying to get any possible information on your brother's location for over a year now. Apparently he's also been trying to locate you as well, but he didn't know where to even start looking since the signals your brother's communicator used were so well protected that he couldn't use them to trace back to his location."

"M-Me?" Hiro asks in disbelief. "Why would he be looking for me?"

"From what I hear he's as worried about you as he is about your brother," Hera tells him gently. "He knows how important you were to Tadashi, and he wanted to make sure that you were safe as well. He's even been offering a hefty reward for any information on the whereabouts of either of you."

When she sees the expression on Hiro's face, she quickly adds, "Don't worry, we have absolutely no intention of taking the money. But Fred did appear quite happy to hear that you were safe with us when I spoke to him."

"Y-You talked to him?" Hiro asks, his voice sounding a bit shaky now.

"I did," Hera confirms. "And it seems we got back here just in the nick of time-one of our intelligence agents was just getting ready to contact him with break in your brother's case."

"A break?" Hiro gasps. "D-Does this mean-?"

"It's not confirmed," Hera answers, keeping her tone carefully neutral. "But we have a pretty good idea of where your brother is being kept."

"That's great!" Ezra cries, beaming at the amazing news "Where is he?"

"That's the not so good news," Hera answers with a quiet sigh. "If he's where we think he is, it's not the easiest place to break into. I'm not sure exactly what Tadashi was doing for the Rebellion, but either it was something pretty serious to get him in that much trouble with the Empire, or else the Imperials were just trying to make an example of him."

"We're still going to try to get him out, though, right?" Hiro asks, his eyes desperately searching the pilot's face. "We can't just leave him in there!"

"Of course we're not just leaving him in there," Hera reassures him, a determined expression replacing the cautious one. "I've specifically asked for our crew to be given the mission to attempt to free him. I think we have the best chance of anyone here of getting him out of there."

"Did you hear that, Hiro?" Ezra grins down at the younger teen who appeared to have stopped breathing for a moment. "We're going to go save your brother!"

"Y-Yeah!" After a moment Hiro shakes himself, grinning back up at him. "We're going to save Tadashi! I-I'm finally going to get him back!"

"You are," Ezra agrees, without even thinking about it wrapping his arms around Hiro and pulling him close. "And I promise, I'm going to do everything in my power to get him out of there."

And he meant it-no matter what, he was going to get Tadashi back to Hiro or else die trying.

It took longer than Ezra would have liked to actually head out for the high security space prison where Tadashi was supposedly being kept. If he'd had his way, they would have set out the second they had the coordinates. But instead they had to sit through a full briefing on the mission, learning the ins and outs of the prison's security and strategizing the best way to get in. Of course he knew why it was important to discuss all of this, but Hiro was just so excited about finally getting to see his brother again that he wanted to make the reunion happen as soon as possible. After what felt like an eternity, they were finally given the all clear to go and Ezra was the first one back one on the Ghost getting ready for takeoff.

It wasn't until after they were almost halfway to their destination that a rather unpleasant realization dawned on Ezra. He'd been so focused all this time on just trying to get Hiro back together with Tadashi that he hadn't even thought about what would happen once they'd actually rescued the older man. Hiro would obviously want to stay with his older brother once they had him safely out of prison. But where would the brothers be staying? Ezra was at least fairly confident that they wouldn't want to go back to their home planet, so that was one thing in his favor. But as much as he'd like to believe that Hiro and Tadashi could simply stay here on the Ghost, it wasn't realistic. Things were cramped enough as it was-they didn't have room for yet another person living here.

And who was to say that Tadashi and Hiro would want to stay on the Ghost, even if it was a possibility? Right now the crew had instructions to bring both Tadashi and Hiro to Senator Lee's mansion once Tadashi was rescued. Did the senator's son, Fred, want Hiro and Tadashi to live with him? It made sense that he would want Tadashi to be close after almost losing him if they truly had been lovers. But did he have to want Hiro too? Ezra knew that he was being selfish-that he should be happy if Hiro had a safe home waiting for him where he could be with his brother. But he couldn't bring himself to be happy about it when the prospect meant losing the person who was slowly but surely claiming his entire heart.

"Hey, Ezra?"

"What?" Ezra is jerked out of his rather dismal thoughts by the feeling of Hiro gently tapping his shoulder.

"We're here," Hiro answers, a look of mixed excitement and nervousness on his face.

"We're…? Oh. Oh!" It takes Ezra a moment to realize what the other teen was talking about, but after a moment it clicks and he's brought back to the present. He stands up from his chair, checking to make sure that his lightsaber is firmly clipped to his belt as he does so before turning to face Hiro.

"You ready for this?" he asks, offering Hiro the best smile that he can manage and feeling extremely glad that the other teen wasn't been able to read his thoughts and so couldn't know how selfish he'd been acting only a minute ago. All that mattered was that Hiro was happy, and even if that meant letting him go then he was prepared to do it if it meant making sure that he stayed that way.

"As I'll ever be," Hiro answers, a hand resting on the blaster he'd strapped to his own belt-despite everyone's protestations that he should stay on the ship where he'd be safe, the raven haired teen had insisted that he wasn't going to be left out of the mission to save his brother, and somehow Ezra had managed to convince the rest of the crew to let Hiro come with with the proviso that he wouldn't leave his side the entire time so that he could keep him safe.

"C'mon, then." Ezra offers him, trying to sound a lot more confident than he felt. "Let's go save your brother!"

The plan was simple enough-Ezra, Chopper, and Hiro would sneak in through a side entrance while Sabine created a distraction at the main gates to the prison, Zeb and Kanan creating a diversion at another entry while Hera kept the ship running for a quick getaway. Two distractions would hopefully cause enough confusion that Hiro and Ezra would be able to get in with considerably less notice. That didn't mean that the little rescue party didn't run into a few guards as they made their way through the prison to the cell where Tadashi was supposed to be being held according to their intel. But the stormtroopers were quickly dealt with, and, in spite of getting turned around once or twice, the trio finally found themselves standing outside the door they'd been looking for.

"Chopper, get it open," Ezra tells the droid, glancing both ways down the hallway and keeping a wary eye out for any more troopers that might be heading their way.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Hiro breathes as Chopper gets to work on the lock, his hand finding its way into Ezra's and squeezing it tightly. "I can't believe I'm actually going to get to see him again…"

"It's going to be okay," Ezra whispers, squeezing it back. "No matter what happens, it's going to be okay."

Just then, the door finally creaks open, and Hiro rushes forward into the cell, calling out, "Dashi? Dashi, please be in here!"

Ezra quickly follows him in, ready to defend him if they'd gotten the wrong cell and run into a less than friendly inmate. But from the expression on Hiro's face, it was obvious that they were in the right place. The younger teen looked absolutely thrilled to have finally found his beloved older brother. Still, it wasn't quite the happy reunion that Ezra had been imagining all this time.

The man they had found was slumped against the wall of the cell, looking more dead than alive. Half his body was covered in scars that looked as if they had never had the chance to heal properly, the burns so bad that one of his half open eyes was milky white, clearly blinded from the extent of his injuries. He looked almost frail in spite of having what must have once been a powerfully built frame. His skin hung gauntly off of his bones, as if he hadn't eaten properly in over a year, and his lank hair and the stubble on his face were a far cry from the clean cut young man Ezra had seen in the pictures Hiro had shown him of his elder sibling. It looked like the Empire had just thrown him in here and then left him for dead-which was probably exactly what they'd done.

Tadashi looked like a complete and total wreck. And yet, in spite of all of this, Hiro didn't show even the slightest hint of hesitation as he drops to the floor in front of his brother, gently taking one of the man's hands in his own and saying softly, "Dashi? Dashi, can you hear me? It's me, Hiro."

For a moment the man didn't respond, and Ezra was terrified that they had found a corpse and they'd been too late to save him. But slowly Tadashi stirs to life, a confused and almost dazed look on his face as he murmurs, "Hiro?"

"Yeah… It's me, _nii-chan_ ," Hiro whispers, lifting his brother's palm to his cheek and gently nuzzling into it. "It's Hiro."

"H-Hiro, what are you doing here?" Tadashi grows increasingly more alert, an almost panicked expression on his face. "H-How did you find me? No, that doesn't matter-it isn't safe, you shouldn't be here!"

"We came here to spring you, bro!" Hiro answers with a grin, seeming pleased by his brother's progress.

"We?" Tadashi repeats, seeming to finally take notice of the two others who were with them.

"Hey…" Ezra waves awkwardly, not really sure where he fit into this family moment and feeling a bit like an outsider. He was just debating giving them some privacy when Chopper's beeping reminds him that they weren't quite out of the woods yet.

"We need to get going," he tells the two brothers, coming over to help Hiro get Tadashi to his feet. "There are more troopers coming-I think they realized that the explosions were just a distraction and that someone actually snuck in!"

"Right!" Hiro agrees, helping his elder sibling stand and asking, "Can you walk?"

"I-I can try," Tadashi answers, stumbling out into the hallway with their assistance. "But where exactly are we going? And who are you?" He looks doubtfully at Ezra and Chopper, not seeming to fully trust them yet.

"They're my friends," Hiro explains quickly. "They helped me get here and find you, and now they're helping me get you out of here!"

That must have quelled Tadashi's concerns, at least for the moment, because he just nods and doesn't ask any more questions as they start off down the hallway together.

They were actually making good progress and had almost made it out of the compound when suddenly a small contingent of stormtroopers appears, blocking the path to their exit.

"Hiro, take Tadashi," Ezra tells the other teen, shifting the full weight of the older man onto him. "I'll deal with these guys."

"Right," Hiro agrees, doing his best to keep his elder sibling upright.

"He's a _jedi_?" Ezra couldn't help but be gratified to hear the tone of shock and almost respect in Tadashi's voice as he pulls out his lightsaber and starts fighting his way through the blockade. Even though this wasn't the best time for it, he did want to make a good first impression on Hiro's only surviving family member, and if this was one way of doing that then so be it.

"C'mon, let's go before we run any more of those guys," Ezra says urgently once he's taken care of the last of the troopers, coming back to help Hiro.

"Right behind you!" Hiro agrees as they start making their way down the hallway again, doing their best to assist Tadashi around the limp bodies of the guards.

Ezra was extremely grateful when they finally got back to the ship without any more delays. Even better was finding that the rest of the crew had already returned and so, as soon as the hatch was shut tightly, they were able to make for hyperspace, their mission accomplished.

Almost as soon as they were out of danger (and maybe even a little bit before that), Kanan insisted on taking Tadashi to the med bay to have the med droids look him over. Ezra helped get Tadashi onto a cot for examination and then quietly left the room, both to give the droids some privacy in which to work and because he needed to be alone with his thoughts.

He didn't regret rescuing Tadashi-not even in the slightest. It had been the right thing to do, and he would have done it all over again in a heartbeat. And Hiro was so happy to have his brother back that it almost made him forget that, in a very short period of time, he'd most likely be losing him.

Almost.

Somewhere in the quiet hours that followed, while the med droids looked Tadashi over and Hera guided the Ghost towards the planet where Senator Lee and his family lived, Ezra finds himself nodding off in the quiet corner of the ship he'd holed himself up in. He doesn't wake up until almost an hour later to find Hiro curled up against him, his head resting on his shoulder.

"O-Oh, hey!" Ezra stammers, feeling his cheeks turning bright pink as he jerks upright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you! I guess the mission just tired me out…"

"It's okay," Hiro answers, smiling softly up at him. "I kind of ended up falling asleep too for a little while after I came and found you."

"How's Tadashi doing?" Ezra asks, realizing that he hadn't heard a status update on their new passenger since he'd been on board. "What did the droids say?"

"He's okay-he's resting now," Hiro tells him, relief showing on his face. "I mean, he's half starved, and those burns from when the Empire blew our place up before taking him away are kind of infected. But the droids are putting bacta patches on him and they said with proper care and good feeding he'll be all right. Not the same as before, obviously. But hey-he's alive, and that's the most important thing."

"Yeah," Ezra agrees, more than a little relieved himself to hear the news. "That's really amazing, Hiro."

"Thanks." Hiro presses against his side and fixes those gorgeous brown eyes of his on him, adding softly, "And thank you for-well, _everything_. If it wasn't for you, I would never have gotten Tadashi back."

"You probably would have," Ezra answers, flushing a bit at the praise and at the same time trying to keep resentment out of his voice as he adds, "I mean, it sounds like that Fred guy was already having the Rebellion hard at work trying to locate both of you. They probably would have found you both eventually."

"Maybe…" Hiro agrees with a small frown, and Ezra winces, realizing that his attempts to cover up his sour mood hadn't worked as well as he'd hoped. "Ez, is everything okay?"

Ezra finds his breath catching at the use of the nickname-Hiro had never called him that before-and then ducks his head to hide his sullen expression as he mumbles, "Why wouldn't everything be okay?"

"Ezra," Hiro presses, leaning down so that he can see the other teen's face. "Come on. If there's something wrong, please tell me."

"It's just… Now that you have Tadashi and you've got that Fred guy who wants you both to live with him, you're going to be leaving us, aren't you?" Ezra finally answers miserably, realizing that he couldn't hide the truth from Hiro.

"You mean leaving you?" Hiro asks softly.

"Whatever," Ezra quietly mutters-was Hiro trying to make this harder for him than it already was? "The point is you're leaving. A-And I…." He trails off, the words drying up in his throat. No, he couldn't say what was on his mind without being a horrible friend.

"Do you want me to leave?" Hiro presses.

"Of course not!" Ezra answers automatically before realizing what he'd just said and quickly trying to rectify his error. "I mean- Y-Yeah, I don't want you to leave... But I want you to be happy, and happy for you is being with your brother. And I can't be selfish and ask you to leave your family when you just got him back…"

"Ezra." The blue haired teen is startled to suddenly find Hiro climbing into his lap, straddling his legs and looking deep into his eyes.

"H-Hiro, what are you doing?" he stammer out, his cheeks burning.

"Please," Hiro answers softly, leaning in closer. "Right now-I want you to be selfish. I want you to be as selfish as you possibly can. Tell me exactly what you're thinking. I-I need to know if you… If you're feeling the same way that I'm feeling..."

Between the way that Hiro was looking at him and how very, very close they were now, Ezra finds all of his carefully constructed walls coming crashing down, and, before he can even stop to think, he finds himself leaning in as well. He leans in until they were so close that they were almost kissing, their lips were hovering only centimeters apart. But as badly as he wanted to, he resists the urge to kiss Hiro. After everything that the other teen had gone through, he couldn't bring himself to do anything of an even remotely intimate nature to him without having permission first. He didn't want to hurt him if he was misreading the signs. He didn't need permission, but he wanted it, and he wouldn't do anything more until he had it.

His patience is rewarded only seconds later when Hiro closes the gap between them, pressing their lips together in a slow, tender kiss.

 _Force_ it was amazing. It was as amazing as Ezra had ever dared to imagine it, if not moreso. He finds himself panting slightly as Hiro finally pulls away, a shy grin on the raven haired teen's face.

"So-what were you saying about being selfish?" Hiro asks, his tone playful but cautious.

"I-I don't want you to leave," Ezra breathes, unable to believe that what had just happened had actually happened but finding his arms naturally curling around Hiro's waist, as if that's where they'd belonged all along.

"Good." Hiro gently places a small peck on his cheek. "Because I don't want to leave either."

"Y-You don't?" Ezra stammers out.

"Nope!" Hiro beams up at him. "I mean, sure I'll want to stay with Tadashi while he's recovering. And maybe once he's better I can split my time between being with him and Fred and being with you guys. But I know more than anything that I don't want to lose you, Ezra. I don't want to lose what we have."

"You could never lose me, Hiro," Ezra reassures him, pulling him to his chest and beaming as he holds him close. "No matter what, I'll always be there for you, whether I have you right here next to me or if you're all the way on the other side of the galaxy."

"Good." Hiro contentedly nuzzles up against him. "But I'd rather be by your side than on the other side of the galaxy."

"Me too," Ezra answers with a quiet chuckle before pulling away just enough so that he could kiss the other teen again. "Me too."


End file.
